Re-counters try to do the right thing

December 06, 2013

One lesson from James City County's recount this week that struck Voter Registrar Alan J. "AJ" Cole Sr.:

"It's prettty tedious to go through a couple of thousand ballots," he says. It takes plenty of concentration to to do it right – which is why, in his opinion, he appreciated the way that the observers designated by political parties carried out their work.

Their questions – in this recount, made to the coordinators overseeing the men and women actually counting the ballots rather than directly to those individuals as will be allowed in the statewide recount of the attorney general's race – helped keep everyone focused and sometimes prompted the second or third looks that clarified how the ballot should be counted, or whether it shouldn't, Cole said.

There wasn't a lot of partisan wrangling either, he said.

"We all try to work on doing the right thing," he said.

The devils in the details

York County has lessons of its own, from the special election of 2007 after U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis' death that year. In order to hold a vote in time for the next session of Congress, officials had to use paper ballots, since voting machines used in the November general election were not released.

"Hand counting, it's very simple. There are a few steps to do to make sure you get it counted correctly," said registrar Walt Latham. Hand counting matters in the recount for the attorney general race because ballots that voting machines can't read must be examined and counted. A recount is the first time that so-called "undervotes" – or ballots in which the machines didn't read a vote for attorney general – will be looked at.

Basically, the key to a hand count is in how you stack things up – specifically, the piles you set up. The State Board of Elections' step-by-step guide dictates five piles: one for each candidate, one for ballots that are clearly blank, one for ballots in which two names were marked, and one for ballots where there may be marks that indicate what a voter planned.

"I've heard it said we're Type A people, and I guess that's true. We're pretty obsessive about getting it right," he said.

Testing the scanners

It will take 24 ballots to test each of Virginia's optical scan voting machines to see if they are counting ballots correctly for the recount of the attorney general race.

Five will be marked for Mark Herring, who won the election by 165 votes of more than 2.2 million cast.

Four will be marked for Mark Obenshain, who lost by that tiny margin.

Three will be marked for some guy named John Doe, a write-in candidate. (From what Shad Plank's heard, it'd be slightly more realistic if the write-in were named M. Mouse, but who's quibbling?)

Two ballots will be overvotes, marked for both Herring and Obenshain.

Two will be overvotes, marked for both Herring and a write-in candidate named Doe.

Two will be overvotes, marked for both Obenshain and the evidently popular Mr. Doe.

Two will be undervotes, with no vote for attorney general.

Two more will also be undervotes, in this case with marks for the Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor but no vote recorded for attorney general.

Two will be undervotes, with the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant government selected but no vote for attorney general.

For the record, there are seven ways to mark a ballot for attorney general, four of them legit: voting for Herring or voting for Obenshain, or voting for nobody or writing in somebody. There are three ways that aren't, and all involve marking a ballot for two people, either Herring and Obenshain together or one candidate and a a write-in.

The cost of a recount

Kevin Hamilton, one of the lawyers representing state Sen. Mark Herring, D-Loudoun, in the recount that starts in 10 days, argues there's lots to do to get ready.

Or, as he put it at a Richmond hearing to thrash out rules for the recount : "There is going to be a lot of activity between now and Christmas, and it is not all going to be Christmas shopping."

In fact, there's already been a lot going on, William Hurd, who is representing state Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, told the preliminary hearing.

He said Obenshain's campaign has already dispatched teams across the state to get a look at election records, including statements of results, abstracts and poll books.

Apparently, the search for information has some hauling out their smartphones to take photos of pages and pages of names in those records.

So, although Herring's 165-vote margin of victory is a small enough chunk of the more than 2.2 million votes cast to ensure the cost of the recount is on the taxpayer, the cost to campaigns of getting ready for the recount and keeping an eye on it is going to be quite large.

Court prepares for a very long day

Is there just a hint of resignation in the tone of one line of Judge Beverly Snukal's order setting some of the rules for the recount?

Paragraph 19 of the order directs the Virginia State Police to prepare to collect recount materials from all 95 counties and 38 cities and bring them to the John Marshall Courts Building in Richmond, where the special three-judge panel will review any challenged ballots and add up the numbers to determine the recount results.

The State Police are to do so "regardless of the hour."

You can almost hear the sigh.

Contact Ress at dress@dailypress.com or 757-247-4535. For more Virginia political news, read the Shad Plank blog at http://www.shadplank.com.